RE: [californiadisasters] California & Building / Re-Building Guidelines

I occasionally pass through that area and I’ve seen the way structures are built, where they are placed and the landscaping used.  Summation: STUPID, retarded.

 

Stupid is being presented with an opportunity to learn, to cause a change in behavior or response for the better; then failing to absorb any part of it.  Retarded is when they continue to fail to learn.  Assuming a cliché, they are as stubborn as a mule about learning or improving their situation.

 

Just because they CAN build on steep hillsides, narrow box canyons with limited access (no escape route, emergency equipment can’t get in safely) and ignore the rules of preparing that space for frequently recurring events (fire, mud, quake) doesn’t mean that they should. 

 

It’s not “IF” but “WHEN” the next ‘disaster’ happens.  The hard fact is that the folks down there are more concerned with style than content.  They push the envelope on the phrase “More money than sense”.  They push it HARD.  If they are going to insist on rebuilding, the planning groups need to hammer down on every aspect of building.  But they can’t stand up to the big money and so history repeats itself, again and again ...  I fail to see how that can be called a ‘disaster’ any longer.  Sad, yes; but an annual event that can be prevented is hardly a disaster.

 

Doing the same thing over and over with the expectation of a different result is one definition of insanity.

 

Rick

 

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From: Lewack, Mark A.
Question, more on the mitigation side than emergency management side –

California has strict earthquake standards, but what are they doing about existing homes, new homes, or rebuilds in areas that are prone to mudslides / landslides? Are they requiring owner, builders to install better drainage systems, stronger retaining structures, etc. for areas prone to mudslides?

It seems to me that So. Cal has so many desirable locations to build, re-build on, e.g. hillsides, coastal property that has a tendency to collapse or fall prey to landslides/mudslides/rock slides, etc. every so often.  I am not sure of the frequency of these events, but if memory serves me right, slides seem to happen very often, yet people continue to build and move to areas prone to these events.

If memory serves me right, these slides are caused by one of the below or a combination of factors:

a.       Shifting of terrain due to earthquakes or other geologic activity,

b.      Denuded terrain caused by forest fires,  started by Mother Nature and human engineering

c.       Periods of intense heat followed by prolonged or sudden intense rainfall / melting of snow in the mountains

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